(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. appeals court rules for environmental groups in biofuel case

New York | Reuters — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled on Friday in favour of environmental groups who argued against the U.S. government’s conclusion that biofuel blending obligations posed no danger to species’ habitats. The Environmental Protection Agency decides on the amount of biofuels that oil refiners must […] Read more



(Dave Bedard photo)

Cost index up for CN, down for CP in grain revenue formula

CP expects lower labour costs, CN higher

Expected labour costs were the major difference in a new ruling on the index that determines how much revenue each of Canada’s big two railways get to keep in the coming crop year from hauling Prairie grain. The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) on Thursday announced its decisions on the volume-related composite price index (VRCPI) for […] Read more


(File photo by Dave Bedard)

CWB class-action suit a step closer to litigation

Manitoba Court of Appeal overrules lower court, allows case to seek certification

A proposed class-action lawsuit against the federal government and G3, alleging millions of dollars of farmers’ money was improperly used to privatize the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) in 2012, is a step closer to certification and litigation, says Stewart Wells, chair of the Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board, which is backing the suit. The […] Read more

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U.S. EPA approves XtendiMax use for five years

Court ruling had blocked dicamba sales

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will allow farmers for the next five years to spray crops with a Bayer herbicide whose sales were blocked by a U.S. appeals court in June, EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler said Tuesday. XtendiMax, a dicamba-based herbicide that is sprayed on soybeans and cotton genetically engineered to […] Read more


File photo of a Mississippi soybean field with glyphosate-resistant amaranth. (Yanbo Huang photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Bayer scraps plans for U.S. dicamba production

Move unrelated to court ruling, company says

Chicago | Reuters — Bayer said on Tuesday it will scrap a nearly US$1 billion project to produce dicamba in the United States, but said the move is unrelated to a federal court decision that blocked sales of dicamba-based herbicides. The German-based company is moving to save cash as it wages an expensive legal battle […] Read more

(Leonid Eremeychuk/iStock/Getty Images)

U.S. EPA permits farmers’ use of dicamba until July 31

Court ruling blocked product registrations

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday that farmers can use existing supplies of a herbicide linked to crop damage, after a federal court blocked sales and use of the product last week. The EPA said farmers have until July 31 to use supplies of dicamba-based herbicides that they had […] Read more


(File photo courtesy Canola Council of Canada)

Appeal court overturns ruling against canola ‘streaming’ contracts

A southeastern Saskatchewan farmer and canola company Input Capital are going back to court now that a ruling last year, which ripped the company’s “streaming” contracts with the farmer as “unconscionable,” has been overturned on appeal. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, in a ruling issued Friday, set aside a 2018 Court of Queen’s Bench “finding […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Water Management Research Unit, ARS/USDA)

U.S. EPA wins new chance to argue against pesticide ban

Reuters — The Trump administration has persuaded a U.S. appeals court to reconsider its recent decision ordering the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the widely-used pesticide chlorpyrifos, which critics say can harm children and farmers. In an order on Wednesday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it will again review former EPA administrator […] Read more